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Clinton Plan Sought On Social Security Changes

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Clinton should lead efforts to keep Social Security solvent but not ask Congress to raise taxes, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer said Saturday.

"Saving Social Security will require presidential leadership, and it will require specifics," said the representative from Texas in the weekly Republican radio address. "It will require something that only President Clinton can provide."

Archer repeated his earlier assertion that Clinton "may be making the biggest miscalculation of his presidency" if efforts to rescue Social Security are left to competing ideas in Congress.

"Without a specific plan from the president, this very difficult job will become much, much harder," he said.

So far, the Clinton administration has not decided whether it will submit a detailed plan or work with congressional proposals.

Unless some changes are made, Social Security will go bankrupt in 30 years as the big Baby Boomer generation retires.

"Its financial underpinnings are beginning to weaken, and we must shore them up," Archer said. "We must be fair, and we must be bipartisan."

Archer said any such plan should accomplish four goals:

- It must treat current and future retirees equally.

- It must not increase taxes; payroll taxes currently pay for Social Security.